Marketing & Technology Group selects MeritDirect for list management

Marketing & Technology Group, a Chicago-based b-to-b media company, announced Aug. 2 it has appointed direct marketing company MeritDirect as list manager of each of its four magazine titles. Marketing & Technology Group titles Hotels, Plate, Meatingplace and Carnetec reach more than 123,000 readers combined each year.

James Franklin, chairman of Marketing & Technology Group, said the company previously worked with two list-management companies, but he felt it was time to consolidate the lists. “[We didn't switch to MeritDirect because] they were doing a bad job, but because we wanted to put all the lists in one place.”

MeritDirect will work with Marketing & Technology Group to develop new business, build third-party email products and build a new master-file product, said Jeff Moriarty, VP of list management at MeritDirect.

“We'll also be enhancing their current data with business location demographic information,” Moriarty added. “This will allow us to market their lists to a larger and more diverse audience.”

Franklin said MeritDirect impressed Marketing & Technology Group because it “made a good presentation to us” and because of good client references. “We talked to some of their other customers and they were satisfied with the results,” he said.

In June, MeritDirect rebranded its list-management and interactive-services division as the Data and Media Services unit. The same week the company said it won list-management responsibilities for the New York Daily News.

In March, MeritDirect won list-management responsibilities for 45 lists and databases owned by financial publisher SourceMedia.